Wear resisting edge for skis



Patented Jan. 14, 1941 4 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE No Drawing.

Application March 4, 1940, Serial In Norway April 12, 1938 4 Claims. (Cl. 280-11.13)

The present invention is concerned with the feature in the manufacture of skis that at least one of the parts of the ski surfaces is composed of baleen, or whalebone. According to the in- 5 vention such parts of the surface may for instance comprise wear-resisting edges of baleen on the sole of the ski, e. g. in the form of longitudinal inset strips or an underlayer totally covering the sole of the ski, the said material having been found to possess particularly advantageous properties both as regards elasticity and resistance to wear and to favorable gliding properties for all kinds of snow, e. g. powder snow, clogging snow, corn snow and common crust, etc. Skis provided with such parts of baleen are, moreover, eminently suited to both indoor and outdoor skiing on sand and preparations known generically as artificial snow which resemble natural snow in texture.

Apart from the application for wear resisting edges or underlayers on the sole of a ski the said material may with equal advantage be used as covering material on the top surface of the ski underneath the sole of the ski boot, for example as a binding plate.

Apart from the use of metals such as steel, brass, aluminum etc. it has previously been sugested to use natural or artificial horn material as a covering material for skis.

As compared with this known material baleen has the advantage however that it may be used without any chemical or other pre-treatment and also the baleen material owing to its natural fat content yields a gliding surface which remains 5 permanently smooth, whatever the prevailing conditions regarding moisture, temperature and snow texture may happen to be, whereby the tedious and, especially by novices in the art of skiing, often little-understood technique of wax- 10 ing skis, for example with paraiiin wax .or proprietary waxing preparations to suit varying snow and terrain conditions is rendered unnecessary.

Wear resisting edges in accordance with the invention may be secured to the wood material 15 of the ski by means of glue.

I claim:

1. A 'multi-layer ski in which the lower layer consists of baleen.

2. A ski in which the entire sliding surface 20 comprises baleen.

3. A ski in which a portion of the sliding surface comprises baleen.

4. A multi-layer ski in which one of said layers consists of baleen. 25

GEORGE sHERRmFs DEANS. 

